HANOVER, Germany (June 13, 2011)—Continental A.G. expects to produce 124 million passenger and light truck tires this year, a 10-percent gain over 2010 and the highest total in company history.
Conti said the record output is in response to rising global demand, both replacement and OE and both summer and winter tires.
Despite the record production, Conti said it still doesn't have enough capacity to cover predicted long-term demand.
As a result, the tire maker has budgeted more than $700 million in the past nine months toward capacity expansion and will announce several hundred million more in coming months for new tire plants in the U.S. and Russia as well as its announced acquisition of India's Modi Tyres Ltd.
Expansion projects at Conti's plants in Mount Vernon, Ill, and Camacari, Brazil, will boost those facilities' annual capacities by about 4 million units each, the firm said.
Conti's new plant in Hefei, China, came on stream recently with an initial capacity of 4 million units a year, which will be expanded over time to 16 million, Conti said.